


Sweet Treachery

by CarelessHux (AraSigyrn)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Darth Tantrum and his Evil Space Ginger, Feelings revealed, M/M, No Redepmtion, TLJ: AU, oblivious boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:15:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22640902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraSigyrn/pseuds/CarelessHux
Summary: Kylo and Rey's confrontation goes a little differently and General Hux's feelings change the course of history.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 132





	Sweet Treachery

Rey doesn't believe Ben is going to take her to Snoke. She follows him because she must, because she's promised herself (and Leia and Finn and Luke) that she'll save him. She must save him. She believes in the boy that she sees behind the scar and the fear. She follows him into the heart of the Dark and he brings her to Snoke.

Snoke is a monster. 

He's not the monster she expected. There's nothing threatening in his frail form and ludicrous vanity. His eyes are cruel and his Force-Presence is a seething font of Darkness. She understands, too late, what Luke feared. She rejects him, reflexively at first but with growing desperation.

"You think that you can save Kylo Ren?" Snoke's thready laughter feels like sour exhaust fumes seeping into a sealed compartment. He feels like corruption. "You offer him nothing. He has seen the Light exposed and knows the hypocrisy of the Jedi. You do not understand but you presume to 'guide him'. Foolish child."

Ben won't look at her. He won't look at Snoke either. He stares at his feet. Snoke's laughter echoes around the throne room. He stands and Ben's lightsabre flies to his hand.

"Can't you see?" Snoke glares down at the sabre then tosses it aside. "There is nothing to save. No valiant stalwart. No stolen hero. Just a weak child in a mask!"

Rey sees the lightning crackle around his fingers. Then a terrific force flings her and Ben backwards. She shudders as the current courses through her, teeth clamped as tight as she can to keep from screaming. Invisible bonds contract around her, arms locked against her side as she's hauled into the air.

Snoke is spitting at Ben. "-nnot hide your treachery from me! Foolish boy! I know every thought that crosses your mind! You cannot hide your secrets. I know you are a traitor."

Ben's face twists into a snarl.

"I will put an end to your petty little treacheries." Snoke closes his hand into a fist and the pressure tightens around Rey's chest. Ben gasps. "Who else was party to this? Is this why you seduced the good General?"

Ben is hanging in his grip, struggling to breathe.

"Find him!" Snoke bellows at the guards. "Bring him to me!"

"Hux is no traitor," Ben spits.

"We will see," Snoke sneers as he turns away.

"General!" Rey sees the doors open from the corner of her eye. A tall man with red hair and a long black coat sweeping at his heels enters. He feels like the ship; cold, clean and ruthless. He falters when he sees Ben and Rey suspended in the air in front of him.

"General Hux," Snoke growls.

"S-Supreme Leader?" The General's eyes flicker towards Ben. "I don't-"

"You have been keeping secrets, General!" Snoke rises to his feet. "Do you think I cannot sense it?"

"I don'-"

"I know your mind, General," Snoke raises a hand and Hux winces, not quite a full flinch. "I will know your secret."

Hux resists. Rey can feel it, feel the pain of the breach and Snoke's cruel pressure. Tears blur in her eyes just from the second-hand experience of it. He is strong-willed, buckling only by agonizing degrees. She sees tears on Ben's face when she looks away. Hux is driven to his knees, Snoke towering over him. A gloved hand braces on the floor and Snoke's face twists in gleeful triumph.

"You cannot hide from me, General."

Hux's face, already sickly pale, loses colour. His mind, weakened by fatigue and fear, yields under Snoke's crushing pressure. The deluge of images that Snoke tears from his mind are bewildering. It's...it's Ben. Seen under the lights of the ship and a hundred different planets. With his mask. Without. Fully dressed and menacing. Unclothed with sweat beading on his chest. Scowling. Snarling. Smiling?

The emotions underneath it feel as deep as a black hole; Rey can't imagine feeling so much, so strongly. She can feel it echo in her own heart, strong enough to hurt. Sharp enough to cut through the scalding humiliation. She knows the truth of it just from Ben's staring eyes and slack jaw.

_I love him_.

"Oh, General," Snoke leans back. Hux slumps onto his knees. The monster reaches out for him. Hux is gasping for air and Rey can see the feverish flush of his cheeks, the red edges of his eyes. "Did you even know?"

Hux doesn't answer. The shame is boiling and the deeper, more honest emotion is sinking back underneath it. His head is bowed, his shoulders shuddering in time with his breath.

"And he would have discarded you," Snoke croons. "Abandoned you in favour of the girl and left you with nothing."

Ben's mouth is moving. No sound escapes but she can see his fingers straining against Snoke's hold. Snoke bends over Hux, gnarled fingers skimming his shaking shoulders. His smile is a twisted and awful thing. His eyes are fixed on Ben who is shaking, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"He is a traitor," Snoke's voice turns cloyingly sweet. "He must pay."

"-pay," Hux murmurs.

"A traitor," Snoke whispers. "To the Order. To you."

"...traitor," Hux pushes himself to his feet. His cheeks are still flushed and his eyes are red. Snoke steps back to his throne, drawing the General to stand beside it. Hux doesn't look up, eyes still on the floor. Snoke smiles as he looks up at Ben who is howling inside his head.

"What is the price of betrayal, General Hux?"

"Death," Hux rasps.

"I intended to kill him myself," Snoke purrs, "but he is twice a traitor. He betrayed you."

Hux looks across at the Supreme Leader. Shame is still boiling through his mind. He shifts his feet, stands a little straighter. He reaches hesitantly for the blaster at his hip, still looking at Snoke. Snoke nods permission and Hux draws his weapon.

Rey strains for the 'sabre on the arm of the throne between Hux and Snoke. She can feel Hux's resolve, the will that nearly forced Snoke back out of his head, solidifying. He exhales sharply and raises his blaster, pointing it squarely at Ben.

Snoke's triumph tastes like ash in her mouth. The monster in the gold cloak is laughing. Ben's mind is a single howl of denial.

"Death to the traitor," Hux says.

Everything happens at once. Rey sees Hux shift his target and fire. The blaster bolt hits the wall behind Ben with a crack. He drops the blaster. His other hand lashes out, almost faster than Rey can see. Snoke lurches forward, eyes popping out. Hux's free hand sends the lightsabre spinning into the air as he is hurled across the room. He hits the wall and lands in a crumpled heap.

The constriction around Rey vanishes. Snoke topples forward, choking as blood pours from his mouth and throat. Rey hits the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. There are running steps. Ben lands on his feet and the sabre smacks into his hand.

"HUX!" Ben howls.

Rey rolls to her feet as the doors burst open behind her. A trooper that shines in the red light leads Ben's Knights and white-armoured troopers into the room. Blasters fire. Snoke's robed guards spin to face the doors. She sees Ben slash through the guard who stands between him and Hux. His rage burns like Starkiller's death throes. He hurls his grandfather's sabre across the room and two of Snoke's guards lose their heads.

Rey snatches the 'sabre up. She looks around. The Knights and the 'troopers are starting to drive Snoke's guards back. Snoke's body is slumped forward. Ben is rushing to where Hux is crumpled against the wall. Nobody is looking at her. She looks at Ben as he skids onto his knees, hands hovering over Hux's still form.

He has forgotten about her.

Rey almost reaches for him. The bond between them shivers and shatters. Ben doesn't hear her. His mind is filled with Hux. Rey swallows and does the only thing she can.

She runs.

* * *

Ren barely hears the slaughter around him. His Knights are savagely triumphant and he can feel the battle turn under their blades. He doesn't care. His whole universe has contracted to the man under his hands. Hux's blood is on the wall, droplets of crimson misting in the air with every breath.

Hux's heart beats weakly. His mind is silent. Broken bones shift gruesomely under Ren's searching hands. Hux’s monecular knife is still attached to his wrist, the blade snapped in half. Snoke's blood drips from his glove. 

Ren can feel Hux's breathing hitch. Hux's life is slipping through his fingers. He snarls defiance at the universe, drawing on the Force more deeply than he ever has before. Hux is limp as Ren pulls him into his lap.

Nothing in Ren's training, neither of his Masters taught him how to heal. He's never been trained to share his power.

But Hux loves him.

Ren read the truth of it as his former Master tore it from the deepest shadows of Hux's mind. Hux _loves_ him. Hux has killed Snoke to save him. Hux is Ren's; body, mind and soul. He is part of Ren. Ren's power flows into him as easily as it winds through his own body.

The healing is still clumsy. A human body is intricate and complex. His power is a raw force, his training never allowing for finesse. 

It is enough. Hux's blood is sealed safely in his veins and arteries. His bones bend back into their proper places and the cracks smooth out. Ren's breath shudders from his lungs as Hux's body slumps against him.

"MEDIC!" He roars.

The battle around him is all but over. Ap'lek Ren stalks the last of Snoke's Praetorians across the floor. The troopers are a protective half-circle between him and the rest of the ship. Captain Phasma, blood spattered over her chrome, turns. He hears her giving orders.

Two of the troopers drop their blasters, turning to reach for their General. Ren snarls at them and their fear stutters through their presence. They have bacta, emergency medical supplies and Ren allows them to edge close enough to address the General's immediate needs.

He watches them with narrowed eyes and does not let them take Hux from his grasp.

Phasma is giving more orders. The last of the guards falls to the marble floor, blood flowing over Ap'lek's boots. Hux is breathing, heart beating erratically against the hand Ren has pressed to his chest. Ren can breathe.

He does not think of the girl.

Not until he is standing over a medical cot while medical droids work to stabilize Hux's thready pulse. Phasma concludes her report on the coup with the words "And the traitor fled with the girl. The Resistance have abandoned their ships and run back to the shadows."

"The girl," Ren has to think to remember her.

The bond between them is a frail and artificial thing now that he can see it without Snoke's influence guiding his thoughts. She had come to save him, he understands. She was Luke's student, as foolish and short-sighted as the old man. She had wanted to shape him, use him as much as Snoke had.

Ren is no longer blind. He is not the broken boy, desperate for love and acceptance, that he had been. 

He is loved. A strange thing to know. Hux loves him. Hux wants nothing more from Ren than what they already are. Hux does not see a flawed apprentice, a monstrous failure or an idiot child. Hux sees _Ren_ and loves him. He does not need Ren to change to love him. He already does.

Ren never saw it. He never looked for love from his acerbic co-commander. Without Snoke's arrogance, Ren might never have known. He might have chosen the girl and never known what he lost. The near-miss fires his blood with rage and a protective fury. He will not be so careless in the future.

Hux is his, the grand prize that Ben and Ren both have striven for their whole life. He will not let him be taken.

"Let them run," Ren says. "We will find them wherever they hide."

"Yes, Supreme Leader." Phasma salutes.

"I want Snoke's followers gone." He gestures and his Knights step forward eagerly. "My Knights will find any who try to hide. Kill them all."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

Ren hears her leave, the Knights shadowing her steps and the door closes. He looks at the chief medical droid. "His status?"

"Dialysis has removed approximately 98.445% of the stimulants from the General's system," the droid whirs for a moment. "The damage done to his internal organs is 73.5% repaired. Treatment will conclude within the next standard hour."

"Fine." Ren paces, dispersing his nervous energy. He does not like the medical bay. He does not like the harsh light that steals the little colour Hux's skin holds. He does not like the droids bent over Hux like metal vultures at a dining table.

There are troopers at the door. Ren skims their thoughts every time he turns and finds them loyal, concerned for their General, and alert to any risk. There is nothing here to fight. The only risk to Hux is his own body and Snoke's damage.

As soon as the medical droids finish, Ren takes Hux away. He brings him to the lavish quarters assigned to the Supreme Leader, hastily stripped of Snoke's effects. The bed is wide and soft. Hux's meagre weight barely dents the sheets.

He is sleeping. Ren wants to wake him but he can see, now that he is truly looking, how tired Hux looks. He has listened to the droning report of the medical droids and knows that Hux is not merely sleeping. Preparing the weapon. Overseeing the destruction of the Hosnian System. Defending StarKiller. Evacuating StarKiller. Saving the Fleet. Pursuing the Resistance.

Hux has driven himself past the point of collapse. He can give no more. His body has simply refused to carry on. His ribs stretch his skin unpleasantly. His cheeks are hollow. His eyes are bruised.

Ren has overlooked the signs before. He sees them now. Hux must rest and recover. There is time. Ren cannot lose him now or ever. He checks the room is secure, hyper-aware of the precious thing breathing on the bed before he sheds his bloodied clothing and crawls into bed with Hux.

He cannot sleep. He cannot even bring himself to lie beside Hux. Every moment he spends looking elsewhere feels wasteful. He braces himself above Hux, bracketing his head with his forearms. Hux looks delicate, like finest porcelain. He does not curl away from Ren's ravenous regard as he does when he is awake.

Ren relearns every inch of Hux's skin. He traces reverent fingers along the wiry lines of Hux's arms. His mind flares with protective rage as he explores the shadows of bruises left by Snoke's rude handling. He touches the small bloody patch on Hux's lower lip and channels the finest thread of Force to knit it closed.

Time loses meaning. 

It could be hours or days later when Hux stirs. Ren goes still as Hux's head rolls slightly. His eyes blink open slowly, lashes sticking for a moment. It takes a moment for them to focus and Ren can feel his exhaustion, still thick and heavy, clouding his thoughts.

Hux takes a long moment to focus and his brows drawn down in confusion.

"...alive?" he murmurs.

Ren does not understand. He presses against Hux's mind and Hux winces.

"Definitely still alive," he slurs softly.

"Of course you are alive," Ren says. He can see Hux's eyes clearing. "Did you think I would let you die?"

He can read Hux's answer in the way his eyes close and his face turns away. Rage spikes through his mind. He cups Hux's cheek, tips his head back to face him. The General does not resist him.

"You had the girl," Hux says to the ceiling. "You wanted to keep her."

"No," Ren spits. Hux looks at him. "The bond was false. Created by Snoke to manipulate us both. The girl means nothing to me. She's gone. Back to the Resistance. Well, what's left of the Resistance."

"Ah."

"I didn't know..." Ren hesitates. It is still difficult to speak the words, like the truth will shatter if he puts it to words. "I didn't know you loved me."

"That makes two of us," Hux's eyes wander to the side. This time, Ren allows it. Hux is uncomfortable with feelings. This discomfort is natural. "I was aware that I was experiencing...a type of sentiment."

Ren can feel the embarrassment threading through Hux's tone.

"I am hardly experienced," Hux snaps, retreating into familiar irritation, "with-with _emotion_."

Ren feels his shoulders sink under the weight of his relief. Hux does love him. He would never be so defensive if the emotion had been imposed. He is snapping like a cornered cur. He is still Hux. 

He cuts off Hux's defensive rambling with a kiss, presses his weight into Hux's sharp angles and threads their fingers together so he can pin Hux's hands over his head. Hux kisses him back, nipping at Ren's lip when Ren gets distracted by Hux's ...Huxness.

Hux's breath is faintly sour but his body is warm and his breath stutters. Ren kisses him again and again, rolling their hips together. Hux's arousal burns slow but hot and he gasps against Ren's mouth, fingers twitching in Ren's grasp. Ren coaxes the sweetest, neediest sounds from Hux until they're gasping into each other's mouths.

Hux's release builds slowly, sweat slicking his skin as his hair tangles on the pillow and his pupils expand. Ren breaks the kiss long enough to bite at the sharp angles of Hux's collarbone. Hux arches under him, pressing them tightly together. Ren kisses the wordless pleas from Hux's lips, rutting against the dip of his belly and savouring the feel of Hux's cock, hard and hot against his own stomach.

Hux comes with a rush of breath and Ren growls into his mouth as he goes slack under him. His own hips push against Hux's softness and he buries his own cry of release against Hux's neck.

Hux breathes against his ear, fingers flexing. A short bark of laughter when Ren refuses to release him. His hair is a wild tangle, his eyes heavy-lidded and he leans into the kiss Ren can't help but steal from him. He is beautiful, Ren thinks, especially like this, languid and pliant.

Ren draws back. Hux blinks and yawns. Pleasure breaks down his barriers like nothing else. He rolls his shoulders, fingers clenching around Ren's and his eyelashes catch the light as he blinks again.

"I love you."

Ren's cheeks burn. He hadn't meant to say that. The words just spilled from his mouth. Hux goes still underneath him. Pale eyes search Ren's rapidly reddening face. He doesn't know what Hux sees. He tightens his grip on Hux's hands when Hux's brows draw down. He feels clumsy and awkward but he isn't willing to let Hux draw away from him.

"If this is pity-" Hux starts and Ren kisses the rest of his complaint from his lips.

"I don't do pity," Ren says, leaning so close that Hux's eyes can't focus on him. 

He doesn't know what Hux is looking for. It is agony to meet Hux's judgemental gaze without snarling or snapping at him. He grits his teeth and lets Hux look. There is a long pause.

Then Hux's fingers squeeze around his and Hux angles up to press their lips together. Ren kisses him until he has to break the kiss to breathe.

"Good," Hux says and kisses him again.


End file.
